_2nd Lieutenant Guy Pedder--November 2._--“We really are moving to-morrow and have got a long march in front of us. It is very hot again, but the nights are very cold. Just been given (every officer gets one on going up-country) a sackful of war gifts--thick pyjamas, boots, fly-nets, shaving-soap, books, eatables, &c., &c.--ripping things.... Played polo for the Regiment yesterday, and a very good farewell concert last night.” So ended the summer training in camp, and the comparative inaction for the Thirteenth. Much of all this may seem trivial, and no real part of the doings of the Regiment in the Great War. But war, and especially a war of such magnitude, cannot be all fighting. The greater part of any campaign is made up of comparatively peaceful days, during which the soldier sees no shot fired. They are none the less an important time, full of work, and yet not without rest and pleasure, all of which have much to do with his fitness when the fighting days come upon him. The months spent in the desert camp at Basra, far from the front, had not been wasted. The end of them found the Thirteenth in good health and spirits, with men hardened to the climate and horses properly trained. They had two trying years in front of them, years in which they were to see much rough fighting and hardship. It was fortunate for them that they had had this breathing space before being thrown into the actual conflict. CHAPTER XI. MARCH TO THE FRONT--MAUDE’S PLAN OF CAMPAIGN. On the 3rd of November, the 7th Cavalry Brigade marched out of their desert camp and set their faces northward. The Brigade marched in four echelons, of which the Hussars formed the fourth. [Illustration: _THE ADVANCE FROM BASRA_ SCALE ABOUT 100 MILES TO THE INCH] [Illustration: ON THE TIGRIS]